When we first booked the trip to Cuba and Peru, we didn’t realised the huge contrast in climate between the 2 countries. Cuba, a hot and humid country, just like Malaysia, but probably at the peak of the hot season; Peru, a dry and cold country, at the peak of the Southern Hemisphere winter in June-July. We did not realised these differences until 1 day before our departure when I was busy moving out of my rented house + packing for the trip when Kevin checked a Salkantay trekking website which said, ‘The temperature may drop before zero degrees.’ It was then when I removed a Cuban hat (it was a souvenir from my friend, Han Rong, a few years back) from my luggage, frantically dug my winter coats from the boxes I have packed and squeezed it into my exploding luggage. So unless your trip involves travel to an extremely hot country, then an extremely cold country, which requires you to have equipment for 5-days long trekking and equipment to work in the hospital as a medical student, the following list shouldn’t bother you too much:
General
- Winter coat
- Thermals
- Sweaters/jumpers
- Beanie
- Gloves
- Swim suits
- 2-3 casual shirts
- 2 jeans/casual pants
- 2 trekking trousers or exercise pants
- 3-4 set of working clothes
- A nice dress – for nice dinners or to go to nice places
- Enough underwear to last you for ages…
- Sport shoes
- Flip-flops
- Work shoes
- Souvenirs for our hosts
- Plastic bags and zip-loc bags
For working in the hospital:
- Stethoscope
- A thin, short white coat ‘batas’ – not the type we used in the UK for dissection or biochemistry lab
- Surgical scrubs
- Surgical slippers
- A small Oxford handbook/medical pocket book
For Salkantay trek (5D4N):
- Sleeping bag – one which can protect you from -10 degrees + wind during the night in the snowy mountains
- Extremely durable, water-proof trekking shoes – one which fits perfectly, else you’d get blisters
- Small bag pack
- Water bottle
- Snacks – can be bought right before the trip
- Walk stick (optional) – I didn’t had one
- Hat – to protect against the strong UV in Cusco-Machu Picchu
Toiletry bag
- Shampoo – toiletries were not provided in any of our accommodation throughout the trip
- Body Soap
- Facial cleanser
- Insect repellent
- Lip moisturiser
- Face and Skin moisturiser
- Waterproof sun screen SPF 45 and above
- Alcohol hand gel – you’ll need it for hospitals and for eating out
- Tooth brush
- Tooth paste
First aid bag
- Lots of plasters
- Antiseptic cream
- Paracetamol
- Antihistamine
- Activated charcoal
- Loperamide (antidiarrhoea) – not advised to take this but for just in case
- Mountain sickness drug – we had acetosalicylic acid + caffeine, instead of acetazolamide as we don’t want to take diuretics during hiking for obvious reasons!
- Courtesy of our Occupational Health Department, we actually had sutures, SteriStrips, swab and cannulas with us in our first aid bag too. (LOL. I have yet to suture outside the theatre!)
This seems like crazy amount of stuff, but these was just enough to get us through the journey, without having to buy a lot more on the way. We forgot to bring gloves, so I bought a pair for about £1 in Cusco.
We managed to packed all these into 1 big luggage (25kg) and 1 rug sack. And we're all ready to go!
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